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Taishin drops bond issue strategy for banking unit

The board of Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday dropped a plan to issue NT$17 billion (US$514 million) in bonds for its banking unit.

Instead, Taishin Financial proposed a staged capital injection program totaling NT$14.5 billion to strengthen the banking arm's financial structure, a company official said in a telephone interview.

"The program will be carried out in two phases, with the first batch of funds worth NT$11.7 billion to be poured into Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) by the end of this month to bring the bank's capital adequacy ratio to 9.5 percent," said Carol Lai (賴昭吟), spokesperson of the nation's second-biggest financial group.

The remainder will be injected into the lender in the second quarter to lift its capital sufficiency ratio to the targeted 10 percent, Lai said.

The move will not weaken Taishin Financial's financial profile with its capital adequacy ratio still standing above the required 100 percent, she added.

Taishin Financial made the decision after the financial regulator relaxed the requirements for calculating financial holding firms' capital sufficiency. This, in turn, relaxed pressure on the capital-strapped company.

Taishin International, the nation's second-largest credit card issuer, was under rising financial pressure after booking bad debts reserves totaling NT$73 billion over the past two years to address consumer lending problem.

The company declined to comment on the bank's current capital sufficiency level.

The regulator did not want Taishin to raise funds through more issuance of bonds, considering the group's relatively high debt ratio, said Jong Huey-jen (鍾慧貞), deputy director-general of the Banking Bureau.

Meanwhile, the board of Taishin Financial decided to hold its annual general meeting on June 15 to reelect board members, including two independent directors, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange last night.

As the company was required to offload a 2.5 percent stake in Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) by the middle of June, Lai said the company would decide on the means of disposal by May at the latest.

Taishin Financial will hold an investors' conference around the end of next month to announce its approved financial books of last year and the first quarter of this year, she added.

Taishin Financial closed down 0.59 percent to NT$16.90 yesterday.
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